VANILLA BEAN WAFFLE ICE CREAM SAMMIES WITH MAPLE BERRY MASH

Hey lovely peeps. I took a little break last week but! I’m back with waffles and ice cream sooo, forgive me? Sweet, sweet Melissa from The Fauxmartha is bringing a tiny human into the world, so ooooobviously that calls for a waffle-shower in blog land. Erin got this whole party started and I couldn’t be more thrilled. More love on the internets please! In whatever form we can dream up, seriously. Big changes swirling in the cosmos (September makes that whole thing feel so intense) and right here on earth call for a very high vibrational frequency waffle treat. Would love to have Melissa over for one of these sammies with a cup of tea, maybe on my new porch (!!!!), maybe while we watch a couple Kid President videos and talk about the insanity of bitchin’ sauce, maybe we’d share a few cooking/baking tips (I know she’s got a couple)… It would be THE BEST.

I’ll have to settle for sending out this recipe to all of youse instead for now (oh and revelling in the party posts from Erin, Sarah, Alex & Sonja, Jeanine, Kathryne, Kasey, Nicole, Heidi and Alison too). I worked from her pretty much famous wholewheat waffle recipe, with ice cream sandwiches on my mind all the while. If I find myself at the Canadian National Exhibition during summer’s calendar end, I most definitely indulge in one of these treats. They make the waffle to order right there, break it on the perforation and sandwich it around a slice of ice cream. Hot waffle with cold ice cream at the fair? Yeah it’s pretty great. The memory of that sweet treat was floating in and out of my consciousness these past couple weeks. This waffle-shower of sorts? So, so timely. Thanks universe!

I used a new-to-me gluten free flour mix for these and made a few other adjustments to suit my needs–chia seeds to bind (PRO TIP: 1/2 tbsp chia seeds all ground up + 1/4 cup water = vegan egg replacement extraordinaire sans flax funk), some almond milk, and coconut palm sugar for sweetenin’. The little kiss of orange and vanilla in these is just right. They seemed like the perfect base for some smushy tart berry sauce and (coconut-based!) vanilla ice cream. Yum and yum. Hope you’re all settling in with the blessings and rhythms of late summer/early fall. We’ve been cozying up to tea mugs in sweaters, accepting the wildness of the veggie/raspberry patch, marathoning Burning Love, and combing the ads for energy efficient appliance deals (whoop whoop + hot damn, party train never stops). Sending the big hugs this week, but especially to you, Melissa! xoxo

Preheat your waffle iron. I have this one, and I set it to 5, which is on the higher end of the spectrum.

In a small bowl, combine the ground chia seeds and 1/4 cup of water. Whisk the mixture and allow it to gel while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a large bowl, combine the GF all purpose flour, baking powder, sea salt, and coconut sugar. Stir to mix evenly.

To the dry ingredients, add the melted coconut oil, warm almond milk, orange juice, vanilla bean paste and chia gel. Mix until you have a smooth batter. Awesome news: you can’t over-mix/overdevelop the gluten in a GF waffle batter :) Fold in the cacao nibs, if using.

Lightly grease the waffle iron with a bit of coconut oil. Drop a 1/4 cup of the batter into the machine. Shut the iron and cook the waffle until golden. Place the cooked waffle on a baking sheet/plate and ocver if you wish. If you’re serving these as breakfast waffles, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet in a 200 (F) oven while you prepare the remaining ones. Repeat with remaining batter.

While the waffles are cooking, place the berries, maple syrup and vanilla in a pie dish and lightly mash everything together with a fork until you have a textured/saucy consistency. Set aside.

Assemble the sandwiches!: Place a scoop of ice cream onto a waffle, flatten the ice cream out a bit. Spread a bit it berry mash on top of the ice cream and sandwich it all with another waffle. Serve immediately.

Holy frickin’ wow. My mind is blown. These look amazing! I’m new to the waffle making game, and this idea is so perfect for those waffles that don’t quite stick together. And that ice cream looks perfect for the upcoming hot months here in Australia. Yum.ReplyCancel

Sending a big swarm of love from the rocky beaches of Hvar. So excited for baby Coleman and your new front porch and these waffle ice cream sammies. High fives to you, lady! These look insaaaaaaaaanely delicious.ReplyCancel

I came to your post, like I always do, and started drooling. Then I saw my name, and “baby shower”, and waffles and I’m nearly in tears. This is so so incredibly awesome! The amount of love is overwhelming! Thank you Laura! And yes, I wish too we could hang with these in hand on your new porch while watching Kid Pres. One day. xoxoxoxReplyCancel

You guys are so unbelieveably wonderful to organise this for Melissa (and to let us all share in the delights!). I have a mega waffle-craving now which I’m going to have to do something about right now.ReplyCancel

oh I would have loved to celebrate melissa’s babe! This is so sweet. This community never ceases to inspire me – such incredibly talented and equally thoughtful women. I LOVE the luna and larrys ice cream too. A little pricey but the perfect special treat. Gorgeous photos, miss.ReplyCancel

Gosh, berries are just the loveliest, prettiest things in the world. Also, thanks for the good tip about ground chia seeds. I eat eggs, but sometimes just don’t have one on me (I mean, in the pantry, not like in my handbag) or just don’t want to add an egg to a mixture. And hurrah for all the love abounding!ReplyCancel

Oli04/09/2013 - 3:13 pm

Hi,
Looks amazing!!
Is it possible to use Buckwheat flour or Almond flour instaed of the GF all purpose flour?ReplyCancel

Hi Oli, thanks for your note! I think buckwheat would be a better bet out of the two, but you’d have to consider adding some kind of potato or tapioca starch to the batter as well to improve the binding. Generally a GF all purpose mix includes one or both of those.
-LReplyCancel

When I was kid me and my friends would look forward to sleepover weekends, and if our parents let us, we would toast up some frozen waffles and top them with ice cream. Long story short, your sandwiches totally brought me back in time! You ladies are awesome, one lovely waffle after another. Congrats to Melissa, and to you on your new casa!ReplyCancel

In the name of all that is good and waffley, I have to tell you. This year at the Ex I had my heart set on a waffle ice cream sandwich. BUT! When I was in line I realized that the waffles are NOT made to order! They are made ahead and then reheated. It was one of those sausage factory moments, my heart was broken. So I had a water melon smoothie instead.ReplyCancel